Blushing Lady
by Soyna
Summary: Elena has no choice but to stop pursing Tseng for a relationship as she discovers that he is with another.  She finds comfort in one that has witnessed the same type of rejection.  Mentions of yaoi and yuri.


**BLUSHING LADY**

* * *

**By**: Albedosreqium / Soyna

**Setting:**  
After Dirge and Advent are all said and done  
**Rating, Genre and Warnings:  
**Teen, but it is really pretty mild considering some of the other stuff that I have written.

**Disclaimer:  
**All related Final Fantasy names and characters are copyrighted by the almighty Square Enix©. I do not profit from this endeavour.  
**Summary and Additional Information  
**For *Kellatrix who wan the Vallenwin Luvers contest.  
I accepted her challenge of Elena and Shera… but also included a bit of the Reeve and Tseng that she mentioned and others.

So there is Yuri and Yaoi in this one…. ENJOY THE STORY!

Thank you for your time

* * *

Elena had never seen anything that had stunned her more in her life. The images on the screen went straight to her core and made her feel a pain that she had only felt at the sight of Tseng nearly dying on the temple floor after Sephiroth had stabbed him.

She never would have thought of either man like that and seeing them in that position made her breath shallow and her stomach clench. She regretted going back through the surveillance videos because of her petty suspicions.

She knew that they were friends. With Shin-Ra financing the WRO, Tseng had done most of the negotiations and ensured that the money was flowing smoothly between the organizations and hid well.

She did not suspect this at all.

She never thought that Tseng could ever be so … submissive.

She rewound the tape and watched the painful scene again. It showed Reeve walking down the hall with Cait Sith around his ankles, as he normally did, and Tseng meeting them halfway. There was nothing unusual about the scene until Reeve reached forward and rested his hand on Tseng's shoulder. She knew from a lot of experience that Tseng was not fond of being touched.

Tseng did not shy away from the other man's hand, though, and actually smiled. That was enough to make her pause. Tseng never smiled.

The scene that took her breath away was when Reeve moved closer to Tseng and his other hand went behind the Turk's head, threading into his dark hair. She wished she could hear what Reeve said that caused Tseng to tilt his head forward to meet the director's lips. She watched and her heart broke seeing them kissing with such passion; Reeve directing all the movements, tugging at Tseng's hair to bare his neck so that he could kiss and mark the slender throat.

Elena knew the kiss would leave a bruise, as she had seen the result. Seeing the dark blemish on Tseng's tanned skin had promoted her to find out who Tseng had been with.

There were times –- like these –- that she hated being a Turk. There were always times when finding out the information was just not worth the price.

She wished she had seen it sooner. The way that Tseng's eyes would soften when Reeve would enter the room or how they would harden when someone else was standing too close to him.

It was evident with Cid near Reeve that Tseng did not like the man close to the other. If Tseng had been paying attention, it was evident that Cid's shadow –- the one that wore a red cape - was giving off a jealous and perturbed look at the two craftsman sitting at the table. Vincent was acting like he was ready to use his claw on Reeve at a moment's notice where as Tseng looked like he wanted to pull out his gun and shoot Cid. It was a lovely tension-filled room.

It was amazing how seeing those images of the man she once pined for kissing another had opened her eyes to seeing such things.

It had also opened her to other experiences she never would have explored before. Elena saw the soft looks from the young woman that made sure that Cid always had his tea during the planning for the building of the new airship. The woman constantly was moving about trying to make sure that the temperamental Captain was happy. She did this even though the only thing that would make the Captain happy was when Vincent was standing beside him and offering him the cup of tea.

Elena could see that the woman was making herself worry too much about perfection and trying to please a man that could never be pleased by her. She understood where the woman was coming from.

Cid yelled something about the tea being too damn cold and pushed his mug away from him. Shera jumped up and quickly grabbed it, asking everyone else at the table if they wanted anything.

Elena frowned and wondered if she had looked like that when she had been doting on Tseng. Shera smiled brightly as she collected the cups as the men asked her to order lunch for them from the Red Diamond.

Shera nodded eagerly as she wrote down their food orders.

Elena recognized that Shera was acting around Cid just like how she once used to act around Tseng. Shera was not recognizing the fact that Cid's feelings were directed elsewhere yet. Cid was obviously had some interest in the ex-Turk and Vincent was giving off signs quite clearly that he felt the same.

"And you?"

Elena blinked as she looked at the woman with the notepad in her hand. She stood with her pen poised to take her food order and had a small smile decorating her rather shapely, full lips.

She was a pretty enough woman. She was of average height and quite slender. She was wearing a simple tan skirt that reached to the middle of her thighs. It showed off her long legs that Elena couldn't help but notice as she ran around fetching tea for everyone. Her yellow shirt was of a simple style that was conservative in covering, but did not hide the swell of nicely rounded breasts that were mostly hidden behind the horrible white work coat that she insisted on wearing.

Her warm, brown eyes were looking expectantly up at her behind a pair of thinly framed glasses that she absently pushed up her nose. Elena smiled at her. "I'll join you."

Her full lips formed a small smile and she straightened herself slightly. "I would appreciate the help."

Tseng just nodded at her from his place at the table. Throughout the day she had noticed that Tseng had been edging closer to Reeve. Reeve and Cid were sitting beside each other as they were going over the schematics and their knees often bumped. Tseng did not look impressed and neither did Vincent who remained sitting in the far corner, pretending to read a book, in which he had never turned the page.

Elena held back her smile that threatened to emerge at her former crush's jealousy. She was grateful that no one asked for a drink harder than the Shin-Ra grey tea for fear of a fight breaking out from how much testosterone was building up in the room.

"Let's go," Elena said and placed a hand briefly on the other woman's back. She admired how long her warm brown hair was. She briefly wondered if it was a soft as it looked and how her hair would look without that pony tail that she always wore high on her head.

Shera nodded as she tucked the little notepad into her pocket and they moved to leave.

They walked in comfortable silence the two blocks to the restaurant. Elena knew the Red Diamond was quick at service as soon as they saw a dark suit walk through the door.

"Thanks for helping with this. Those guys sure ordered a lot of food," Shera said as they walked into the establishment. "I wouldn't want to drop something on the way back."

The bell chimed above the door announcing their arrival to the establishment, and caused the man at the counter to smile as they entered. "I wanted to get out of that room. Those men were getting into those preparations for the new airship a little too much."

Shera's smile didn't reach her eyes as she turned to give the man at the counter their order. "You didn't tell me what you wanted," Shera said as she got to the end of her list.

"Oh, it okay. We know what Miss Elena orders. You two sit. Relax. There in lounge. No. Kay." The man spoke in broken Midgarian as he directed them to the softly lit lounge area of the restaurant.

Elena smiled. She liked the lounge at the Red Diamond, especially during the day. Shera looked like she was going to protest and go sit in the wooden chairs in the entrance, but Elena quickly placed a hand on her back and started to usher her towards soft leather couches that surrounded the crystal fireplace in the corner. It was quite a relaxing place to go and a lot of Turks usually came here. The lounge side was usually full of the dark suits, but that was after the dinner hour. Hardly anyone came in during the day and Elena did enjoy the quiet the place offered at lunch.

"Send over a couple of drinks," Elena said to the man, who eagerly bowed and scurried over to the bar.

"Oh, but it shouldn't take too long. We don't have time for drinks," Shera said, but still allowed herself to be ushered. "We don't want them to wait."

Elena motioned for Shera to sit on the leather couch, and so she nervously did. Elena was about to sit down herself but decided that near the fireplace, it was warm enough for her to remove her coat. She slid her dark coat off her shoulders and threw it on the nearby chair. "You should remove yours, too. They can wait a bit for their food. They won't starve. You have been running off your feet serving them tea and catering to their every need, instead of helping with the specs. They have been treating you like a servant. So, we can have an hour with just us girls."

Shera chewed her lip nervously for a bit, but then gave out a small sigh as she shrugged and wiggled out of her long white coat. Elena couldn't help but notice her skirt rise slightly showing more of her well-shaped thighs. "I guess we could take an hour."

Elena took the white coat and threw it over by her dark one. She did admire how the woman looked without the bulky covering. Her shirt was snug and she was quite fit and curvy.

Shera looked at the crystal fireplace and smiled. "I always wanted to install one of these. If you use broken materia, they can give off wonderful colours."

Elena nodded and sat beside her on the leather couch, allowing herself to sink into it. "Yes. It's a beautiful sight when they do that here. I particularly like it when they use broken Lure. The pinks and greens it gives off is quite … well, alluring."

Shera chuckled lightly and covered her mouth with her hand. She was still sitting so rigidly and nervous. Elena hoped that she could get the woman to relax a bit.

"Relax, Shera. You don't need to worry about Cid yelling for you," Elena said and patted the back of the couch. "You are allowed to have some 'you' time."

"He just expects so much, but it is rather tiring," Shera said as she seemed to relax a bit as she looked at the flames. "So a couple extra minutes won't hurt."

"No, it won't. Considering the way they are treating you," Elena said firmly as she examined the woman who gave her a startled look.

The man that took their drink orders rushed over and placed two drinks in martini glasses. It was what she always ordered when she entered. 'Blushing Lady' was her favourite drink. The man just smiled brightly, turning to the crystal fireplace and throwing a few pieces of materia on the fire, which changed the colour of the flames to a very pretty pink that matched the colour of the drinks.

The guy was going to get a large tip.

"What do you mean by that?" Shera said.

"Cid was ordering you around quite rudely to get him his goddamn tea and such," Elena said. "You know just as much about those schematics for the ship as he does, maybe more, and they never asked your thoughts on it once."

Shera slumped and fell back against the couch. Her eyes were drawn to the colourful flames. "It's all right. I'm used to it."

The pain in her voice was evident. She was used to it, but it sure as hell wasn't all right. Elena reached forward and rested a hand on her shoulder. "I know what you're going through."

Shera frowned and looked down at her lap. "It's that obvious, huh?" Elena moved a little closer and squeezed her shoulder. They didn't say anything for a minute and they sat in silence watching the pinks and green dance in the flames in front of them.

"What do you mean that you know what I am going through? Have you ever had the man you are in love with sleeping with another man?" Shera said. She was wringing her hands together. "I know they are trying to be quiet about it, but it's so obvious." Shera paused and with a shaky breath spoke. I caught them kissing." Her eyes were not leaving the flames.

"I encountered the same problem," Elena said in return.

"You aren't with Tseng?" Shera blinked at her and slumped a little against the couch.

Elena shook her head. "He's with Reeve." She watched her brown eyes grow large.

"Yeah. I felt the same way."

Elena removed her hand from Shera's shoulder and reached forward to grab the drinks. She handed one to Shera and held hers up. Shera looked at her drink a little awkwardly. "To be away from the men," she toasted.

Shera smiled and chuckled as they clinked their glasses together and then took a sip of the fruity cocktail. Shera leaned back and rested her head on the back of the couch. Elena couldn't help but sigh at the sight of her long hair falling over the dark leather. Elena wanted to reach out and touch it. "These are pretty good," Shera said as she readjusted herself on the couch, so that not only did she look more comfortable, she could also keep an eye on the colourful flames.

Elena found that she couldn't stop looking at Shera.

Elena cleared her throat. "Blushing Lady," she said and felt her cheeks do the same as Shera drew a leg up over the other and showed more of her legs. She wished that her uniform allowed her to wear a skirt from time to time. She felt very formal in her outfit. "I always get these when I'm here."

Elena forced her eyes to the coloured flames and watched them dance. She leaned back on the couch and was surprised to find her fingers touching something soft and silky. She looked at what she was touching and then into the warm, brown eyes that were looking sadly at her. She pulled her fingers out of Shera's pony tail with great reluctance.

"Sorry," Elena said, a little ashamed at her control. She finished her drink and pulled away. She was a Turk and was supposed to have a lot more control over herself than this; even if it was rare to find someone that had the same issues as she, and it was nice to know that she understood the pain of it all.

Elena placed her empty glass on the table and leaned back. "We can just get the food delivered and we can stay here." It was a quick thought. She didn't want to go back and listen to them talk of the schematic. She didn't want to watch Shera scurry around like a servant and she most certainly didn't want to watch Tseng get in a fight with Cid because he was bumping his knee against Reeve's too often.

Shera took another sip of the drink. "That would be nice. It is rather comfortable here." Elena couldn't help but smile. "They can get their own goddamn tea," Shera muttered as she downed the rest of her drink.

Elena took the glass from her hands, allowing her fingers to linger against hers for a moment. Shera flushed, but didn't seem to mind.

"I'll get us another."

* * *

Tseng was not happy to see that the food was delivered and not by Elena or Shera as they expected it to be. He was not happy that he was relegated to making sure that Cid's cup of tea was always warm and that the dishes were cleaned up. He disliked the company of the room less and less as Cid seemed to be getting awful close to Reeve unnecessarily.

He tried Elena a few times on her phone. The first time she answered she said simply that she felt that she was not needed there and they can work out their own man problems there. Then she refused to answer without any further explanation from the last declaration. He had raised his eyebrow at her slurred voice as she obviously sounded rather drunk. That was something that he would expect out of Reno, not Elena.

At four o'clock he called an end to the discussion and was grateful to finally be rid of Cid and Vincent who could go back to their own hotel room, but Reeve decided that they should go out for a drink. Tseng nearly bit a hole through his cheek at the suggestion.

They walked together to the nearest pub, which was the Red Diamond. They entered into the lounge area without even looking at the man at the door.

"What the fuck!" was the elegant proclamation out of the pilot's mouth as he stopped dead in his tracks, causing Vincent to nearly pull out his gun. Reeve even gave a startled sound and then promptly gave out a good-natured chuckle as he walked around the other two men.

Tseng looked at what they were gawking at and tried not to let the shock show on his face. Elena was sitting too close to Shera to be anything but more familiar in nature. Elena's head was resting against Shera's and they were both staring at the fire. One hand entwined with the other's hand and the other holding a large pink-coloured drink in a martini glass. There were similar empty glasses in front of them.

They must have been drinking all afternoon while he was dealing with the engineer talk.

"Yer been drinkin' yer ass off, while I've been workin' all afternoon. What if I needed a spec from ya?" Cid yelled, his face getting red.

Shera blinked. "You could have got your own goddamn tea," Shera said simply as she brought the pink drink to her lips. Elena giggled. "If you need me for a spec you can give me a call." She pointed to the phone on the table. "Didn't ring once."

"Yer supposed to be there!" Cid said as he raised his voice.

Elena answered next. "She's with me now." There was an edge to her voice that Tseng didn't recognize from the woman. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at them. They all watched as she placed the half-empty drink on the table. He was not expecting her to thread her hand through Shera's loose hair and pull her in for a kiss. Tseng was certain that she had it in a ponytail earlier in the day.

It was a lingering kiss where Shera's hands went to thread into Elena's short blond hair. It lasted about a minute before they pulled away and they each licked their lips as if they were still tasting each other.

Cid was standing there with his mouth open. Reeve had his hand over his mouth and looked as if he wasn't sure what to say or do. Vincent was pulling Cid close to him and didn't seem at least bit bothered by the sight. Tseng didn't know what to make of the two women's impromptu make-out session.

They went back to leaning against each other. Elena gave a smile that reminded Tseng of Reno as she spoke. "Well, are you guys going to gawk all night or you going to buy us another drink?"

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Well, I think this is my ultimate crack pairing ever. I hope you like it :iconkellatriz: for your wonderful entry for the :iconvalenwindluvers: contest. So congratulations on the win.

BE NICE AT THE ODDNESS!

The drink they had! Now, you underage people wait until you are legal age in you country or make a virgin version if you are so inclined… Don't be too naughty.

The Blushing Lady is a perfectly designed fruity cocktail that is the right blend of tropical flavors and looks stunning when served in it sugar-rimmed glass. It's a great cocktail for almost any occasion, any time of year. The flavor of a Blushing Lady is a medley of sweet, sour and tart. One may find themselves entranced in this beauty of a drink, making it easy to reach the "one too many" mark and having one blushing as pink as the drink.

**Ingredients**:  
oz PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur , 2 oz vodka , 1 oz pink grapefruit juice , lemon wedge , coarse sugar for rimming  
**Preparation:**  
Rub a wedge of lemon around the rim of a martini glass and dip the glass into a plate of coarse sugar. Set it aside.  
Pour the remaining ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice.  
Shake and strain into the garnish martini glass.


End file.
